It's Enough
by The Deceiving Maiden
Summary: Eva was running out of time as the world around her started to collapse. She was separated from Neil, so she searched for him. But even though he was found, Neil told her to leave without him.


**Deceiver: The Sigmund Corp Discord chat were crying over a fanart (link on Tumblr), and let's just say someone wanted some writing on the fanart. Here we go.**

 **Collab with Carrie, who wrote a couple of the lines.**

 **WARNING: Not for fragile hearts.**

~.~.~.~.~

 **It's Enough**

~.~.~.~.~

Eva raced through the collapsing world, dodging falling pixelated debris as she searched desperately for her partner. He had to be here somewhere. She was just with him a moment ago before the memory around them fell apart, separating them. All the running through this breaking away world made her tired, but all she could focus on was finding him. _Please be all right…Please be all right…Please don't you f #*ing die on me!_

"Neil!" Eva shouted when she spotted him at the edge of the remaining memory they were on. He turned to face her, watching with his one-way reflective glasses as his lips formed a thin line.

"You shouldn't be here, Eva," he told her once he was in front of him, his hands in the pocket of his lab coat as she panted from exhaustion. The world around them broke faster, yet Neil was unfazed by it. "You should get out of here already."

Eva gave him an incredulous look. "A-Are you crazy…!? I can't just-"

"You know as well as I do that I cannot leave," he told her. "You have to get out. It's too late already."

"N-No!" Eva refused to accept it, but Neill just went on. "We both know well what will happen to those who are still linked to the machine when the memory starts to destabilise," he sighed, watching the sky falling around them. "Aren't you being a moron again? You know there is nothing you can do now."

His words made something boil inside Eva, making her glared at him with sharp eyes as her hands began to shake. She couldn't control herself when her legs started running up towards Neil, so then she could hit him in the chest with her fists. "I am not leaving you!" she shouted, hitting him over and over. Neil didn't even respond. "We were so close! We were right there to save you! How can you tell me to just leave you here! You're the one who is giving up on me!" she added loudly when she lifted her head up to face him. Her eyes were brimming with tears, threatening to spill, but she refused to let that happen.

She couldn't see his eyes behind his obnoxious looking glasses, but she sensed his expression soften a bit. She stopped her pounding when Neil took her hands in his, giving out a soft hum. "I know you tried your best. And I am grateful," he told her softly. "You may not be able to save me, but at least you tried to save someone like me." Eva's eyes widened, shaking her head, but he continued on. "After learning the secrets I tried to keep hidden, you still stuck by my side and put yourself in danger by using my machine to grant my wish. But it's enough..." he flashed her his trademark grin. "I can leave with that."

"Neil…" Even though he said that, Eva refused to believe it. This...this may not be the real him, just a copy of his memory she was able to interact with all this time while travelled through his past. Even if he said that, the real Neil might not feel the same…

His hold on her hands loosen, instead he laced his fingers with hers. "I'm not going to leave this place with a bang if you're staying here though," he commented. "If you don't leave, I won't forgive myself."

"Neil," she kept repeating his name.

"And seriously, I'm not good with sappy goodbyes," he gave a mocking huff. "I don't need those before I die."

"Neil!"

He gave her a frown. "And yeah. That's my name."

Letting out an irritated groan, Eva lowered her head, refusing to face him once more. She was not only fed up with his words, but also him making fun of this whole situation. Everything about it made her want to hit him again, maybe even shove him off the edge of this piece of memory so then she felt some satisfaction on his fall. And yet…

And yet this was so like him to lighten the mood, even at the worse possible time. Eva didn't want to accept this outcome, no matter how he tried to brighten it. The world started to rumble, everything breaking away further. Neil looked up, taking in a deep breath.

"It's time, Eva..." She shook her head, not saying anything. "If you want me to go in peace, can you at least listen to what I say for once?"

She scoffed at that. "Why should I?" she grumbled. " _You_ never listened to _me_."

"Eh, touché," he shrugged. Eva kept her eyes down, feeling the tears she was fighting back starting to spill. "But…just this once? Think of it as granting my dying wish."

She let out a loud groan, hating every bit of his request, yet couldn't find herself to refuse. "Fine…"

"Great!" he sounded way too cheery right now. But again, it so like him. He let go one of her hands in favour for trying to lift her head up. She refused to though. "C'mon…one more thing?"

"I already said I'll leave," she grumbled.

"Just one more thing," he said firmly. "Just…look at me?"

"No…" Eva said…but she was growing reluctant to ignore him, so she slowly looked up. Eva felt extremely vulnerable as she showed how much she was crying. And she was sure Neil's final wish was to laugh at the stupid look on her face.

Instead though, Neil reached out to wipe the tears away. His hands were surprisingly gentle. "Eva…" he began, leaning in close to her face. "Thank you…for everything…"

As the world flashed red, Eva tried to say something at him, but her visions started to grow dark. She couldn't get a word out as she felt herself falling into darkness.

 _Thank you for always being by my side..._

~.~.~.~.~

The very thing that made Eva realised she was back in the real world was the sound of a low **Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep** echoing in the room she was in. Blinking for a second, she wrenched the helmet off her face. Eva instantly turned to where Neil was, seeing his body as still as before. Nothing changed about him, except for the helmet he once wore now sat in Robert's hand.

Looking up, Robert's eyes meet Eva's. And without saying anything, he gave her a small bow. Roxie was by her side, but Eva couldn't really tell what she was saying. Something about being sorry? How she was forced to log her off the machine before it was too late? Eva wasn't sure. All she could comprehend right now was how Neil left this world. She couldn't fulfil the wish he wanted to be granted while he was alive, yet he said he could die in peace. Eva couldn't believe him. Since when did Neil ever reassured her like that?

Stupid...idiot..." she whispered, wasn't sure who she was referring to as the tears started spilling again.


End file.
